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Book Review: The Story of The Ramones by Everett True ...and More!

Hey, ho...let's go! Ok now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about The Ramones...
Believe it or not, I never knew much about The Ramones, aside from their music, of course. And I have heard all the rumors about the band, but wanted to find out "the truth" for myself. Well this book does a great job of it...

This book is mostly compiled of the author's interviews with the band (and surrounding friends, family and business partners) directly--so straight from their mouths--with small bits of opinion and reaction sprinkled in. That's exactly what I wanted, to read about the band as close to factual as I could, and I think this book accomplishes that. Of course, we'll never really know now...

There's not really much I could say that would be a "spoiler" for this book, but what I was most surprised to learn about The Ramones--the band as a whole--was how dedicated they were to the business of being a band. I never realized how incessantly they toured, and ultimately, how much they are revered after the fact, instead of while they were all still alive and doing what they did best. Sad, really. But they never let that deter their mission, which is a huge testament to their character and resolve to be true rock-n-roll stars.

I highly recommend this book if you wanna "get to know" The Ramones. It's an enjoyable, fairly quick read, and never dull, I can promise you that much.

So then I found this on the cheap, because I wanted to learn even more about Joey. It's written by his brother Mickey Leigh, and even though I've heard not-great things about it, I want to judge for myself. It's next on the TBR (to be read) list, and I'll update this post when I've finished it.

And finally, there's this hilariousness. DeeDee Ramone, was definitely the most diverse of all the "bruddahs" writing several books, trying RAP on for size, making art, painting and generally being the rebel of the group. I have only read a little of this so far, and it's supposed to be fictional, but so far it doesn't sound like it's too terribly different from the truth...albeit a drug-infused truth.

UPDATE: OK, I've just finished this...insanity. What started off as a mildly amusing/interesting Creative Non-Fiction tale, quickly became a spiraling descent into madness. And at that point, I pretty much lost interest, because he gets really brutal and rather incoherent. Some might say the ending was a foreshadowing of his own death, which was something I wasn't really expecting, nor keen to witness. Proceed at your own discretion.

Oh and P.S. The title below is violently rare, but supposed to be another good account of the past. I'm a little bit skeptical because it's written by their tour manager, who endlessly got the shit end of the stick from the band. But if I'm able to get my grubby mitts on a copy, I will update this post to reflect my thoughts on it. Gabba Gabba Hey!

UPDATE: As I've been unabashedly corrected, On The Road with The Ramones wasn't specifically written by their tour manager, but rather compiled by him, and includes exclusive interviews and over 250 photos. I'll be back when I read it for myself.